This invention relates to visual display devices, and more particularly to display devices constructed from flat glass panels having gas channels therein and electrical conductors in dielectric separation from the gas in the channels. Voltage excitation of selected conductors causes gaseous ignition and such ignition may be selectively shifted by properly sequencing voltage pulses to adjacent conductors within the panel.
This invention relates to U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,597, issued Mar. 21, 1978, wherein a particular conductor geometry is disclosed for initially igniting a gas cell or cells at an input terminal to the display panel, which geometry enables cell ignition to be accomplished at the same voltage as is required to sustain ignition in other gas cells within the display panel. The aforesaid patent discloses a row of pilot cells arranged along an edge of the display panel to constantly provide a source of gaseous ignition to each of the plurality of channels within the panel, which gaseous ignition is time-shifted into respective adjacent cells in the gas channels through the application of sequential timing voltages to adjacent parallel conductors. Each gas channel within the display panel utilizes an input conductor geometry of the type disclosed for initial cell ignition at a channel input, and the sequential timing sequence enables all ignited cells to shift in parallel along their respective gas channels throughout the panel itself. The present invention is an improvement over the aforementioned patent in that it permits a plurality of gas channels to be initially excited by a single input conductor rather than requiring a plurality of conductors for the respective gas channels.